Orphan Sunday Event Idea

Experiences impact us more deeply than words. On Orphan Sunday, share a meal eaten by orphans around the world. Gather with family, small group or church for the meal, discussion and prayer. When you request The Orphan’s Table, they will ship you: An easy-to-cook meal package and an Orphan Sunday Prayer & Discussion Guide

For more information visit: orphansunday.org | www.cafo.org

Free Advent Devotional Guide from Buckner

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Advent celebrates the coming of the Savior, a period of expectant waiting and preparation both for the birth and earthly ministry of Christ and for His imminent return. This year, Buckner is offering a special way to celebrate and anticipate Christ with a daily devotional guide written by those who serve the "least of these" to take you through the Advent season. The 2012 Buckner Advent Devotional Guide is free of charge. Click here to reserve your copies today and they'll mail them to you between Nov. 2 and Nov. 16. You can also sign up to receive daily devotional emails in your inbox each morning. Click here to sign up.

Upcoming Family Life Today Broadcasts on Orphans, Foster Care and Adoption

Several of us from the Vulnerable Children's Leadership Team were able to attend the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit at Saddleback Church last May.  Several of the most unforgettable features at Summit VIII were recorded for broadcast on Family Life Today…and two are slated to run next week!

Monday, September 24^th FLT Broadcast. The deeply-moving personal stories of two young women who grew up in the foster system, interviewed by Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine. Few eyes were dry by the conclusion of this interview, mine included!

Tue/Wed, September 25^th and 26^th FLT Broadcasts. The “Men and the Cause of the Fatherless” on-stage discussion included Rick Warren, Russell Moore, Jedd Medefind and Dennis Rainey, moderated by Bob Lepine. These two broadcast will explore why men often lag behind their wives, how we can motivate men to “step up,”…and ultimately carries a bold call especially for men to rise as true “defenders of the fatherless.”

Thur/Fri, September 27and 28 FLT Broadcasts. Mark and Katharyn Richt share their personal adoption story (not recorded at Summit).

If you live in the Chicagoland area you can hear Family Life Today  weekdays at 11:00 a.m. on WMBI, 90.1 F.M.   Otherwise, you can find your local Family Life Today station HERE.

Christian Alliance for Orphans Webinar

 

 

Alliance Webinar Series

 

The Christian Alliance for Orphans Webinar Series is designed to help individuals like you create and grow effective adoption, foster care and global orphan ministry in local churches.

 

You're Invited...

Wrapping Around Families: Providing Help and Hope to Those Called to Foster or Adopt

Not every family is called to foster or adopt, but we can all be a blessing to the foster and adoptive families in our community, providing much needed (and often lacking) support.

The webinar will explore some crucial ways to help families and some tools for doing it well.

Presenter: Kelly Rosati, Focus on the Family

Katie Overstreet, Focus on the Family

Gail Wahl, Woodmen Valley Chapel

 

Date: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 Time:  1:00 PM Central

 

Each 60-minute webinar in this series will give local advocates access to the knowledge and experience of top Alliance member churches and organizations nationwide, covering key topics on adoption, foster care and/or global orphan care. Every webinar will be hosted by a local church orphan ministry and co-presented by one or more national experts on the subject matter. This pairing will deliver a combination of specialist information and resources alongside a “here’s how it works in a real church” perspective.

Safe Families "Spoken Word" Video

I encourage you to check out this video from Michael Pherez.  A few of us from our leadership team were able to meet him and hear his "spoken word" in person when we attended the Safe Families Conference in CA earlier this year.  Michael is a gifted young man from Chicago, who has a heart for vulnerable children.  Below are the words he speaks in his Safe Families video.  Check it out!

http://vimeo.com/42731047

IMAGINE---a MOTHER LOST in her ROLE,
HER SOUL, DIM!----A FADE IN HER GLOW!
HEAVY LADENED BY A LACK of LOVE!
And a dose of ABUSE---AND DRUGS---IMPRISONED
WITH a PINCH of HOMELESSNESS to wake her up to the HOPELESSNESS!
THAT AWAITS HER GASPING LUNGS---

 

UNDONE, SHE LONGS TO SOW A LOVE she's never KNOWN
TO REACH OUT TO THE SHE---SHE'S never GROWN---INTO!
IN-3
IN-4
IN-10 YEARS, LOST & TOSSED!
BY THE WAVES OF GOODBYES
THAT ABANDONED HER AGAIN AND AGAIN!

 

A GEM, UNDISCOVERED IN THE ROUGH-OF-THE-TOUGH-
OF-THE-CUFFS THAT KEEP HER BOUND AND KEEP US WONDERING!

 

PONDERING HER FREEDOM---
CALCULATING---
THE COST ALREADY PAID
THE DROSS ALREADY UNMADE
BY THE CROSS ALREADY BRAVED!

BY THE ONE WHO WAVES HER BACK INTO A HOME SHE'S NEVER KNOWN
TO A FAMILY SHE'S NEVER GROWN!

 

BIBLICAL HOSPITALITY---TO MUTE THE SOUND OF HOSTILITY
UNCONDITIONALLY LOVE FOR THY NEIGHBOR
THE STRANGER
THE ANGER
LEFT TO HANG-HER AND HIM
AND KIDS CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

 

LITTLE HEARTS HURT
FOR A RIDDLE---
MOTHERS AND FATHERS STRUGGLE TO SOLVE---

 

SURE-LOCKED HOMES
NOW OPENED
HOPE-IN THE FORM OF ME AND YOU
TO HEAL THE BROKE-IN THE FORM OF THEM!

ALL TO ENCOUNTER EXTRAVAGANCE
REDEMPTION (IN) THE FORM OF HIM!
BECAUSE LOVINGS' THE MISSION
WITHOUT CONDITION --GOD PLEASED
BECAUSE WE THE CHURCH RADICALLY REDEFINED INTO A PEOPLE WHOSE DESIRE IS MORE THAN SUNDAY MEETINGS
WITH OUT SOMEDAY MEETING -- HIS WONDERFULLY MADE CHILD

 

A FAITH OPEN TO THE MESSY REALITY TRAPPED IN LITTLE EARS AND EARS -- TEARS TO MUCH TO HANDLE
LITTLE HEARTS AND HANDS TO NUMB TO FEEL LOVE TO CONFUSED TO ENCOUNTER ITS BEAUTY
LITTLE ANGELS WAITING FOR YOU AND ME TO REFUSE THEIR ABUSE --POWER
TO REFLECT A LOVE BRIGHT ENOUGH TO OPEN THE EYES OF THEIR SLOWLY BEATING HEARTS THAT SPARKLE
TO SHOW US WHAT WE WERE MADE FOR
WHAT HE DIED FOR
THE RED LETTERS OF LOVING THY NEIGHBOR
THE STRANGER NOT ACCEPTING THE DANGER OF OVERLOOKING THE HUMAN
FLESH AND BLOOD
BECAUSE WE ARE TO CONCERNED WITH THE FINE PRINT
THE MESS AND THE FLOOD OF THE SCARY DETAILS THAT CAUSE OF TO SELFLESSLY INHALE
THE PURPOSE OF HIS BLOOD ON A CROSS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF THEIR LIVES ONCE LOST BUT NOW FOUND
NOW SAFE WITH A FAMILY THAT TOOK THE RISK TO STEP INTO THE UNKNOWN
TO BECOME A SAFE FAMILY!

International Justice Mission Chicago Benefit Dinner

 

Join IJM at the Chicago Benefit Dinner!

You will change lives.

You will fight slavery.

You will bring hope to a world in need.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

6:30 p.m. Reception | 7:00 p.m. Dinner

Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel

$125 per person

R.S.V.P. by October 31 - Space is limited.

Featuring

Saju Mathew, IJM Director of Operations, South Asia

Saju joined IJM in 2008 as the Field Office Director in Chennai, India, where he led a team to rescue hundreds of people from slavery. At the Benefit, he will share stories of the incredible transformation he has witnessed, including one family’s life-changing rescue from slavery and a sex trafficking survivor’s journey of restoration.

Learn more about ways to get involved: HOST: Purchase a table of 10 for $1,250 RECRUIT: Fill a 10-person table with paying guests SPONSOR: Multiple levels available

Click to learn more about IJM Benefits.

events@ijm.org | (703) 740-9923

 

 

 

Positive Update on Rwanda's Orphans

Rwanda moves to close down children’s institutions and improve its childcare system

By Shantha Bloemen


KIGALI, Rwanda, 30 July 2012 –Three years ago, Esther arrived at the Mpore Pefa home, only a few hours old, naked and caked in blood from her umbilical cord. A man named Larry had found her in a field. She may have been the child of a student at the nearby secondary school, but that is speculation; nobody knows.

UNICEF correspondent Suzanne Beukes reports on Rwanda's ambitious plan to close all the country's children’s institutions in favor of family-based care. Watch in RealPlayer

Now Ester has found a family, and in doing so, she is leading a radical transformation as the country attempts to heal from its past conflict and move forward as a cohesive society. She is at the forefront of an ambitious plan – supported by UNICEF – to close all of Rwanda's 34 children’s institutions and find new homes for the 3,153 orphans living in them.
More ambitious still, the country wants to deepen family solidarity so that no more children are abandoned.

Closing institutions
Ester left Mpore Pefa three months ago. Her new parents, Gilbert and Providence Mwenedata, say it only took a day or two for her to settle into her new surroundings in a spacious house in a suburb of Kigali. She joined the couple's two children, Gloria, 6, and Gladys, 3.
“The first day, she barely spoke,” Mr. Mwenedata said, “and the following day, when I left her at her new school, she wept until we convinced her we would return. It has been easy because there was a connection. We had a love for her and she has love for us. Our daughters were prepared to accept a new sister.”

Psychologist Vidivi Karangwa helped to match Ester to the Mwenedatas. She works for Hope & Homes for Children, a nongovernmental organization with global experience in deinstitutionalization. It is a partner of the Government of Rwanda, UNICEF and other child rights organizations in the effort to improve child care and eliminate child abandonment.

Like many orphanages in the country, Mpore Pefa opened its doors soon after the 1994 genocide. An estimated 800,000 people had been killed and hundreds of thousands of children were left without parents. Rwanda went from having four orphanages in 1979 to 34 in 2011.

© UNICEF Video

Esther, 3, smiles in the home she now shares with Gilbert and Providence Mwenedata and their two children, in a suburb of Kigali, Rwanda.

Mpore Pefa – which until recently was home to 50 children – was among the first orphanages to close. Hope & Homes for Children Head of Programmes Epaphrodite Nsabimana said that the closures make financial sense. “Raising a child in an institution costs around 3,000 Rwandan francs per day [about US$5], and if you use that same money, it can cover the cost of a standard family of six children.”

Finding their families
Zaina Nyirambakama, Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Children, said that many people had assumed there was no option but to place abandoned children in orphanages. But on closer inspection, 70 per cent of children in orphanages had living parents or close relatives who could take them in.

Irakoze Pulcherie did not even know of the existence of her 4-year-old granddaughter, Kesia, until Hope and Homes for Children brought her the news.

“When I first saw Kesia, it was very emotional,” said Ms. Pulcherie. Kesia showed signs of malnutrition and limped because she needed special shoes that the under-resourced orphanage could not provide. “I was so happy but also distressed by the conditions in which she lived. At first they wanted me to spend more time with her at the orphanage so she could get used to me, but at the end of the first day, she did not want to leave me.”

Reforming the whole system
The National Commission for Children expects the closure of all the country’s institutions to take two years. The government, with support from UNICEF and other child welfare agencies, is training more social workers and psychologists. The plan is to create a network in each district to help identify children who are likely to be abandoned and to find options for children with no extended family.
“The commitment is there – even the prime minister has adopted a child,” said Ms. Nyirambakama. ''We don't want to do [the closures] in a hurry. We want to make sure that if we place a child or reunify a child it is for good.”

UNICEF Representative to Rwanda Noala Skinner said the initiative will not stop at ‘deinstitutionalization'. “We are looking at the whole childcare system so that we have robust systems in place to ensure that both now and in the future there are good referral mechanisms to prevent abandonment of children.”

Webinar: Adoption & Classroom Success

Presents...   Adoption and Classroom Success: Beyond the Basics   NEW WEBINAR! RESERVE YOUR SPOT TODAY!   Wednesday, Sept. 19 7:00 PM Central Q&A: 8:00 PM REGISTER  Circumstances prior to adoption often cause children to experience school in a different framework than other kids. Join us for a discussion with Heather T. Forbes, LCSW as she presents tips and strategies on how to help your child be more successful at school, and ease some of the stress at home. Heather will cover: How to smooth school related transitions Helping teachers understand what is driving a child's negative behavior How to increase your child's motivation to succeed at school Submit your questions for Heather HERE or by tweeting them to @adoptiontweet using #ALPSchool

New Adoption-Themed Children's Book

Gotcha Day,

A Carried In My Heart Adoption Story for Children

Authored by Rebecca Tabasso
Illustrated by Bonnie Lamaire
A very special day is coming up-only Suzie isn't sure which one...

When Suzie's mom tells her a special day is coming, Suzie is very excited and begins guessing. Could it be Valentine's Day? Or St. Patrick's Day?

Suzie's mom can't resist letting Suzie make guess after guess as Suzie's imagination journeys through many possibilities trying to figure out which special day her mother is so excited about. It's not Christmas, but there will be a big celebration. No, it's not one of "the special days for presidents and kings," but it does celebrate history-their family history. And there will be balloons and cake and maybe even presents, but it's not a birthday.

With just a few more clues, Suzie figures it out: it's her Gotcha Day! That's the day her family celebrates the date they became a family, the day they recount first holding her and bringing her home and show her all over again how special she is and how much they love her.

Gotcha Day is a celebration in itself with warm illustrations, a story full of guesses and laughs, and even a removable Gotcha Day certificate. Families can personalize their child's name and the date they became a family. "Let it hereby be known that your Gotcha Day is a very important date in our family history and how happy we are to have Gotcha!"

Adoptive parent and author Rebecca Tabasso's debut is a loving-and fun-way to talk to children about adoption. As comforting as a warm embrace, her sweet story renders a heartfelt portrait of the special place an adoptive child's Gotcha Day holds in their family's history. Full of laughter and love, Gotcha Day: A Carried in My Heart Adoption Story for Children is the perfect avenue for families to share with their child their own adoption story, traditions, and joy their child brings to the family. 

To purchase a copy, click here: http://www.carriedinmyheart.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=1&goback=%2Egde_1563687_member_156738854. 

For other resources and community forums from Carried In My Heart visit www.carriedinmyheart.com.

Monthly Pot-Luck Gathering: Life Books

Life Books: Create a treasure for helping kids throughdifficult

life transitions and enabling them to take ownership of their uniquehistories.

Whether you are a Safe Family parent, a foster parent, or an adoptive parent, a Life Book is an invaluable tool that can help a child makesense of their past and prepare them to go forward.

 

Life Books can give children life-affirming information:basic factual information about themselves, as well as an understanding ofwhere they came from and why they have a new family. It will give thempermission to remember and grieve their losses and betterbond with their new families.

 

Come and learn the specifics of how to give a child the gift ofa lifetime.  Training credit hours will be given to licensed foster families.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Road, So. Barrington. 

Room F150 (park in lot F and follow the signs downstairs to room F150)

Our guest speaker, Joyce Moffitt, is aLicensed Child Welfare Worker who has more than 25 years experience workingwith children and their families. She is a recruitment representative for YouthServices Bureau of Illinois Valley. She is also a Master Trainer for the IllinoisDepartment of Children and Family Services. In this capacity, she teaches avariety of adoption and foster care courses. Joyce received her degrees inpsychology and sociology, and she has received training specific to workingwith children and families on issues related to the effects of childhoodtrauma, and attachment. Joyce has a passion for educating families of the needsof vulnerable children and helping them find the role God has for them in Hisgreater plan.

* Please bring a dish to share.  Beverages will be provided.
* R.S.V.P.'s are helpful for our planning purposes.
* Childcare is available if you R.S.V.P. to this e-mail with the number of children and their ages.

Steven Curtis Chapman visits Willow Creek

This weekend at Willow Creek, Steven Curtis Chapman treated our church to a worship concert at all three services.    In between services today we were privilege to have him stop by and greet some of our adoptive, pre-adoptive, foster and Safe Families.  On behalf of the families represented in our ministry, I was able to thank him for his dedication to adoptive families and to orphans worldwide.  I also told him what an encouragement, inspiration and blessing he has been to so many.  Steven then spoke encouraging words to us and prayed for us and our ministry.  We closed with a quick picture of him with all the kids!

 

 

Steven Curtis Chapman with the kids.

 

 

 

The Welcome

Offering words of encouragement.

 

 

 

Stephen offers words of encouragement and a prayer.